COI C125
Ironno has recently reestablished the safe houses once again after another strange phenomenon to block every door it has. Except a few, strange remnants of barely even properly open like they squeezed themselves in. it is something to behold for such effort to get in. It wasn’t desperation as the surrounding door never look dent and has scratches. Rusic probably was the one who opened it. The safe house is one of the train tracks for the metro stations. The scroll that was left behind had already been gone. Maser has some adventuring ideas to always leave something behind in the safe houses. This one is clearly the example.
Haw follows him, arrive with nothing else with his tools. He takes a look of the safe house
“Someone is already taking the information with them. It must be those party”
“It is something that we can’t involve with. I guess Rusic was hoping it to happen”
“Hmm, what did you say about it?”
“No rusics can’t retell a tale without experience, Haw. A person like you from Mountaiwall should know about it”
“It seems so, but you don’t know about my pass or even when I brought a lifestyle of theirs”
“Indeed, gobin child”
The two follow the path they were first contact with the wraith. The demonic presence of such apparition was never told to be something more mechanical. The people possessed magic are able to defeat such immense curse. There they stood nothing more to see, a place that is already been cleared. Ironno’s scrolls are used to detect the same threat as it lies hiding here. None, they actually done it without a time to delay. Haw is speculating more than he thought of congratulating them.
“Oue has did great masterworks for me to do. I’m still waiting for those two to pay me the time after Spokesman’s agreement with me”
“You believe that the recruit is willing to pay you?”
“A favor from her, I guess I would convince her more to rely on me”
“Don’t dare to swift on another citizen woman”
“. . .”
“Chuckle* I couldn’t help myself. I am just glad that our own people never chat about their love life”
“You got through one of their gossips too? I am too can’t follow their lines of conversations. Even the rusics have told better jokes that cause trouble”
“We are just too different humanesques . . . The men from many cultures of worlds”
Inside a realm, a dungeon hid so well into a form of a religious gathering. The gem glows before the idol as the light shines the silhouette of something more than its exterior looks. The hideous and the broken idol is keeping the light bright in the inside. The shield student’s hand grip on the gem as he walks forward. Slowly as the others speak their worries.
Rusic “Lad, be careful. I’m no warrior for breaking curses. Demonic magic will possess you”
Archivist “Ready your cards, Tabitha. The one for to save our companion”
Tabitha “Be cautious, Miyusuki. We don’t have to do it if you are not ready”
The shield student touches his gem on the idol, one tap on the hideous thing led to the light waves rippling on the outside to the statues at the corners. Continue to spread the wave further to the whole building, the glimpse of vision comes forth. Rusic sees people, human, were taken their seats. Another wave shows more people, all of them are men, no women nor children. Tabitha listens to a strange whisper, a prayer or less. Only she hears and said to her companions
“I hear European language. What is this place?”
The idol cracked after the light releasing the light waves. Only a chip inside let lose as the light darkens. The shield student takes it as the gem suddenly breaks. The two items put together without him knowing. Finally, it was over and the room returns where they left off. The gem though opens more what the boy never could imagine. The shield student said
“A cross? A String? Being put together . . .?”
Rusic grabs the item to see what it did. Only a quick look and return to his hand.
“A religious item, and Tabitha . . . I guess you might know something about this place. We can leave here now and go somewhere else, because . . .”
Archivist dashes to the door and holds the door open. The entrance is being sealed with a demonic magic. The shield student and Tabitha rushes to the entrance. The shield student shouts
“THE ENTRANCE IS CLOSING!”
Archivist grips the exterior magic, bending it wide open to the last possible moment of it closing in. Rusic says to them
“It’s a natural occurrence to most realm. Sealing you away and trapped here, but there is no reason to worry, right Tabitha?”
Tabitha checks her hand and she has her spell for escaping. It’s called a secret card. It has condition though and more importantly the back of the card doesn’t match her deck. It designed made by the goblins.
Archivist hears her thought, then closes the entrance. The shield student was shock
“Why did you let . . . it . . .”
The moment of confusion reaches his eyes and see the sealed entrance was not a demonic seal, but shamanistic carvings. Rusic never thought Tabitha knows about it and let it close, to his surprised
“Now lass, you know the seal is shamanism”
Tabitha shows him the card she plays. Mage card; dark magic that communicate the undead. A drawing is made by the goblin’s artistry. A picture of goblins acting European and having dinner in proper formal clothings.
Tabitha sees her deck is being made, a special empty deck holder residing to the vacant slot. The deck is form and shows very strange cards. Rusic and the shield student go closer to her and to see what made her curious. Archivist sees the entrance being sealed with shamanism. The wave of light had probably awaken the forgotten passage of this place. They know something like this to happen, then that gem he is holding was given by a demon. He stops thinking the most suspicious person who given to the shield student, was none other than Spokesman’s wife. She has her tales, and this ‘European’ realm must be corelate together with her spouse.
At the moment, there is still no threat. Empty since the beginning, loots gone, and the damnation of this place remained still after the gem is used. The shield student holds his new opened item, a cross with a string attached. Wondering for the others what secrets lie inside, through his gauntlet to intentionally powered up his UI just to know what the item has. The UI barely has the same quality it has, it is the first time he sees a loading screen when identifying. It says,
“Cross of Salvator, information: Blank” He checks his device to search about it. If it is related to European origins from what Tabitha had said, then it is an assumption he should be searching for.
And there it is; well just painting related to the name, brand, names, and nothing else on the list. Along with the translation as it is identified as a name, he was expecting to think of hearing their original language but the UI has fully and permanently updated since the end of the siege. Disappointed and thought this place probably from their world, he thought it just from a different dimension. Checking around the place, it is rather peaceful in a messy way. The four continues their search for anything from what it had left.
Rusic yawns to express his negligence; he sits one of the benches, picks his rune stones on hand, light a random object, then the fire didn’t light but fell to the ground. A gaping hole appeared before him as the others heard a loud noise falling down. Tabitha turns around
“What in the hell was that!?”
“The most basics thing I could do besides searching around. I’m opening up secret rooms here”
Archivist looks down at the hole as something is not harmonizing his aura.
“There is another realm below there. Rusic? Are you trying not to tell us something?”
Rusic sees them that they are too new of this experience. It is strange for the three people haven’t experience these types of realms yet. It is obvious that it is common to exist linked realms connecting together like Agatheus City’s inner realms. Then again, Archivist is right. The realm linked to one another and nothing to blend together. The place down there is releasing spiritual essence, too goblin like. Rusic stretches his body
“We might as well venture down”
Tabitha shuffles her cards, the new deck formed on her deck holder as she must picked the three decks. Her UI says something made her focus on the new deck, the word temporary means something and the note by Yui says something it will fill up for adapting specific environment where it is not well suited for the other two decks. It is decided, she picks her new deck. Goblin drawn literacy at the front then at the back is one of the tribal different logos of the tribes. Archivist sends his words through her head
“The bottom has no signs of threat. Let’s get down here fast”
A noise randomly crashing where she is now. The room starts to shake and she was pulled by the shield student.
“Hey! We need to go. This place starts acting up”
The shield student can’t find something who did this. Invisible and unnoticeable to where they are, Rusic takes the first step near the hole.
“We just disturb something here. My runes can’t find it. This is no neutral mana. Let’s go down for now”
The shield student and Tabitha were the first to go down. Archvist follows along as Rusic stays and watch. Rusic sees him stuttered his step to see he is not going yet. The floor starts to rise up and the room starts to release fumes.
No time to see what happened as Archivist dives down to check the two. Rusic looks at the hole as it starts to close in. Stone drawings start to form as it about to close it, then it stopped. Rusic sees his shadow in front of him when the light flashes in the room. Without even a single movement of his daring stands. The hole sneakily moved on its own and sink Rusic down. The creature comes out hiding at the entrance. The sealed shamanistic magic starts to fall apart and the pieces of the toy body fell to the ground. The body is being put up together, and with the head appeared out of nowhere as it softly whispers
“Whisper* D – u – d – u – d – u – u – c – k”
The four entered the realm that is drastically different. Archivist already know something about this realm.
“This realm is also corrupted or easy to say curses and jinxes”
Rusic lands on the ground “It’s hexes and voodoos, Archivist. Curses are term for the demons, and what’s this ‘jinxes’ mean?”
“Better not talk about it, we are a realm of goblins”
“Nah, this is no realm for the shamanism. You know that”
The shield student reaches out to Rusic “Then what is this place?”
“The same demonic realm, and it seems like the goblins were meddling here for a bit . . .”
Rusic quiets down as he can’t grasp how this realm looks.
The realm is fully drenched in rituals and voodoos, there are trace of junks from Isekai City and much more. Like garbage being thrown here, but so neat and clean for some visual reasons. Tabitha sees now her hands in shamanism like magic cards. She tries it
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“Hey Rusic, do you think I can use my cards here?”
“Well, go ahead. This place is not hostile than the one from above . . . (He looks up) . . . Well, there is nothing to see there. The ceiling disappears”
They look up as the ceiling still rays down in a small hole, the shines of the rituals are closing it with its seal.
Tabitha tries to use her cards. The card she picks is the reveal. The aura appeared around the card and blasts around it into seismic wave. The wave first interacts what the card touches from Tabitha’s hand to her feet and now spread any contact that the ground touches. Down and up, the reveal shows the rituals all around them. Rusic could tell what this place is
“I see, then the spirits are the one who descending its influence”
“Oh, and I thought it reveal something more”
“No lass, they are revealed with your magic. The spirits didn’t show itself fully. We just need our own spirit to draw and communicate”
The shield student tries to use his gauntlet as he touches the ground. Archivist stops him and said with a stern voice
“A word of a lesson to you, boy. Spirits are also one of the types of mana. Don’t bring a live specimen inside the gauntlet”
“Sorry, I was thinking . . .”
“There is no need for apology. They look rather curious for you, right?”
The shield student sees the ground already start playfully reaching the gauntlet. Like it wanted to be taken inside, he remembers the challenge during the summer festival. His uncle was overwhelmed by the totem heads. Not even tech itself to protect against the spirits.
Gauntlet pulls away from the ground where light sound of sighs following the gauntlet’s near-touch. It was soon return to his inventory knowing so well of the unknown he doesn’t want to cause trouble. They venture forward and check what this realm is. Out from the shadowy room, and opens up to a new area. The collection of monsters is here being ritually sacrificed. The monsters that were part of the siege are here. The large beetle, the swarm insects/limpers, remnants from the ampstalk tree, but no wraiths or other unique monsters.
Archivist and Rusic know about goblin hideouts, but not like this. Rusic said to them “It is surprising how the spirits are already making secret bases”
The shield student sees the room to look like an autopsy facility. He stares at the remains leaving him disturbed to the mystic of both magic intwine together. “Rusic, I heard about it from the adventurers. It’s called a tribes’ den, mostly housed the spirits. According to the city guild, it displays as the homage of the goblin spirits”
“That’s right humiskis”
They turned around and see the toy to their sides. An actual voodoo doll, instead of a children’s toy. The spirit sees nothing but hear something. The way it moves around as it is acting blind, and the trails of rituals are guiding it to the wall. Gets hit and the echoes of the soul tingles like a bell. The doll speaks at the wall
“The spirits have reach here since the strange demonic walkers. The moon that grows left and the moon that froze kept, my boyz are chirping like a group of mocking birds that speaks clearly to the spirits’ ears. To someone who is here and fear, I am probably in the blood tributes”
The group see to be a sacrificial room, and the goblin spirit says it for tribute. The shield student was wondering and explains to it how they got here. The spirit was pleased casts its shamanism inside the ritual room and fell to ashes.
“Yes, yes! The spirits know. I am here to wonder blindly and see no life. Strange boys coming to this realm wearing fake bodies, soft, hard, and oddly looking creatures but standing in two feet and has arms. Weird boyz, but it didn’t speak any tribunal talkas. Voice of the tribal boyz . . .”
The room fell into darkness leaving only ashes that lay down as soil, the smoke didn’t rise, the presence of magic is strange for Tabitha’s senses, and the monsters they have sacrificed disappear. The goblin spirit kept its word wondering what this strange creature. The sound of the noise coming where they entered. The spirit slowly vanished leaving only the words they managed to listen to
“. . . Oh no, the big boyz. Hide if you want to stay . . .”
Rusic and Archivist understood and bring the two to the pile of ashes, where Rusic dug open and Archivist bend the ashes into a molded room. They hid inside as they hear plenty of small footsteps.
Group of toys walking through the room. A bunch of spirits possessing the dolls, mostly of those toys are figurines. All from the known merch from a popular anime, the most common look is the mech suit series. Tabitha and the shield student held their breath as the toys moved pass them, one of them stops. Its eyes stared at the ashes as it raises its weapon, then it fires at the pile. A shamanistic magic erupt to the pile and the body is formed. The remnants of the swarm limper arose from the ashes filled with rituals.
Reanimated into a lifeless carcass, the spirit rides it and passes by. Rusic and Archivist have clearly understood why the spirit wants them to hide. Archivist said to Tabitha and the shield student
“This place is a spirit taming ranch”
“Spirit taming? Tabitha, do you have summoning magic”
“No, and I never learn it in Enders Bridge”
“Joanne might know how to tame spirits, but why we need to get one here”
Archivist remembers how the undergrown is, it should be a collection of familiars created by the demons. Shamanism can replicate the manufactured beings, the only thing they need is a spirit to possessed the reanimated object.
Yet there is also an alternative recreation. Rusic shakes his head, and Archivist has nothing to be knowledgeable about shamanism. Tabitha noticed the two Enders looking at right at her. The confused stare for them leading the idea of spirit taming. She tries to reach Kiege, but she is no avail. The shield student raises his hand
“Why not we loot this place?”
Rusic laughs “This boy is on to something, but spirits already know when you enter this place. Even we hide here, they know. They just play along as if we never exist. Spirits won’t interact with you normally, just be supernaturally will make it active”
Once they got out, the spirits surprised them from the ashes. Tabitha shriek. The spirits stop and look at the living. They are sensing no harms, and they stood their speaking their language
“Dinju!”
“Tazmin, Kalah diyana ug pum lam . . .”
“Shakala nam, paka lam pyung hala shak ek . . .”
Gibberish to the ears to the group, they move pass them leaving them talking to one another. One toy turns towards them and mentioning about the other spirit.
“Are you here for the duck?”
“The fake duck spirit, who travels with children. You know that spirit, right?”
The toys reveal the appearance of the toy. It is clearly the duck that the shield student had thought
“Hey, that’s the same duck who always at the park. That same duck who keeps staring other people”
Rusic is starting to worry “Did it do something with the younglings?”
“No, it’s more like the kids are bullying it instead the other way around”
The toys are fading to its true form. The toys it tries to mimic return to its actual voodoo dolls. Their powers are showing less and less as it starting to fade. The dolls ask them for a request.
“Find the duck, in yellow of its glory”
“Glory, mon”
“The boyz’s essence is interfering to the other realms. Please stop it and a reward will be provided among the beast spirits”
They vanished, and the group returned back to the sacrificial room again. The spirits were never been interfering the lives of many people, unless the goblins summoned it for a reason. There they stood together, to know if they could follow the request of the spirits. Neither of them nor the living knows about the quest given by the spirits. Archivist says to them
“This is actually a first time having a ritual quest. If you two wants to get the reward, it is the most obvious they could give is guidance spiritually. Is either of you two knows to use shamanism?”
Both of them shakes their head, the shield student grips his cross “What about this item? I feel something I want to complete for why are we supposed to go here in the first place”
The group main journey is for him, and it was truly so. Rusic can’t hold back for the boy’s curiosity as Archivist and Tabitha shared their thoughts.
“He’s right, and more importantly is that gem is connecting to that ruin”
“It would be best we could go back and away from this freaky goblin rituals”
“From what I understand when a goblin spirit interferes the mortal realms means they are facing the unrealistic events of the unknown, the demonic secrets”
Rusic pats the boy’s shoulders “I guess this is your journey lad, let’s get that duck spirit”
The shield student nods as his eyes were starting to look odd when he sees the cross. Something inside starts to feel empty as it needed to feel. Since the gem breaks free, as if the shamanistic spirits are contacting with his cross. The duck is something feel no threat, this makes him question the quest giver as he said to them
“Do you think those spirits are against us?”
Archivist stops him and hid his mouth “Shh* We just follow along. It won’t be the quest to finish and the spirits show end here”
The shield student feels the hand feeling a bit cold, freezing his mouth shut. This is something they should not be doing during inside the realm of the goblins. He just nods as they proceed to go elsewhere, not back up but to where they could find an exit. They continue to go forward as they found bodies, toy fractures along the way. The sound of spirits sprung loudly but quiet to the living. The group couldn’t help but to guess. Archivist said to Rusic
“Is this the right time not use our powers?”
“Aye Lad, we never use our magic since then. They didn’t interfere us and we won’t interfere theirs”
This realm is getting into a strange void, both realms are colliding into a rift they could not interpret. The surrounding is turning between goblin den or the ruins they supposed to be, it starts to get a little more unbelievable to their eyes. The marks, the rituals, the remains under switching between from its illusion, it is clearly keeping something from them. There they found an object lying on the floor. A shrunken head being transform back and forth between the head or a toy doll. The shield student gets curious and was about to reach it. Rusic pulls to him and said,
“No, let’s go without anything to do with this realm”
Tabitha sees her hands show a distinctive spell card. ‘Far Seer’ card that helps them see the true vision of the shamanism, with a warning note telling not to do it during battle. In thoughts with Archivist
“Hey, my card gives a warning about not using it during a fight”
“Then we need to get out from this realm quick”
Archivist says to Rusic and the shield student. “Let’s go back, we were intruding something secret here. Let’s go back . . .”
The realm starts to reveal more bodies come after the other, the spirit dolls falling apart and those mech suit figurines are appearing in pieces.
The voice is getting louder, the familiar voice from the shield student, but a wary tone of confusion to the others.
“D-u-u-c-k sh-sh-sh ha-ha-hah”
The noise made it clear to their ears whereas everybody needs to leave now. A random entrance open as they spoof by its sudden surprised. Rusic had enough of the strange immersion as the piles keep coming closer to them. The drops of broken toys keep closing in on them, were there is nothing they can do, but to leave.
They return back when they entered. Tabitha’s card can now be used, everybody couldn’t understand why they got here from below to the door in different level. Tabitha opens up her card and the spell ‘far seer’ is open. A vision coming through the realm they entered previously. The piles of bodies are now showing the entity of the spirits, all goblin spirits, were taken down by their own strong goblin shaman. Wielding the rituals that she never seen before and the body of the duck as its avatar. It was able to annihilate everything the room has. Speaking mostly in goblin tongue, a dead language where she couldn’t translate except that were able to.
It says “. . . The spirits of rustah dustahs still mad by your disownment from your ancestors . . .”
“The goblin spirits were always at your side, but your rituals shared with the old enemies”
“The dead can not change, you lasta mi donaggas . . . We still condemn inside of its old po’ugus nola thum ba . . .”
“That’s why I am here, humiskis will not confused itself to you, boyz . . . Wait?”
The duck looks at to where the group was heading. Something they could not see, and the duck follows where the door they entered.
The door starts to shake, the group turns around as the spirit is already at the door. Rusic tells them again
“Don’t use your magic. We should hide”
Tabitha looks around the place “To where exactly, our only exit is cursed by goblin spell”
“This is still a realm, and also a religious building. There should be more rooms here”
Archivist looks at the debris where the structure where uneven at the corner, he checks it and finds a door. The group follows him as he tries to breakthrough. No time to see what inside as they go up. An inner balcony as they stood that could not see from the ground floor.
The door squeaks itself open, the spirit walks in alone as they see it below. It is indeed the duck that spirits want to get rid of. Rusic thought it was a bit sketchy how the spirits are meddling on something. No one knows what the spirits are doing, now that it spreads their secrets inside the city. Giving away that they are interfering without a goblin in control. With no knowledge of the ways of shamanism, they could not do anything to deal with it. Rusic’s rune weapons can easily beat it, but he just removes its avatar and not its existence.
The ‘far seer’ still maintaining the magic usage. Tabitha records it with her device as the seer is going farther to the past revealing many resources hidden by the spirits’ schemes. From one of the secrets revealed, there is an exit where they are at now, she looks at the window where the glass window is still intact. She pulls their arms and said,
“My magic just found a way to escape. Are we going to leave now?”
Rusic watches at the duck acting goofy as it walks forward to the stage. No one knows what rituals it has and what curses it obtains after defeating the previous realm.
The mystery of shamanism and its spirits still managed to hide itself from its dangerous curses. Rusic will not dare to face something that will grow stronger inside this realm.
“Aye lass, we are not ready to go against them. It is better to see what spirits it has that we could not see it for ourselves”
“But I managed to use my far seer to see more than we have seen before. I even recorded it”
“Then, when we approach it, how will it react?”
“Uhm, I was hoping to talk to it”
The shield student holds his mouth from laughter “The duck keeps saying duck multiple times. I know spirits can actual talk, but this is goblin”
Tabitha sees both of them won’t be pushing to have a conversation. This is supposed to be her first time talking to the spirit. However, this is something she had to be involved with preparation. They have no choice but to leave. When they turn their backs, the duck had found something hidden in the podium. Then it throws at them at the inner balcony, Archivist tries to catch it, but it phases through his hands. It spread around and directly went to the shield student. His cross merge with those things as it revealed itself as beads.
The beads are merging and forcing the item to open an unknown portal. The shield student was pulled into and Rusic grabs his hand before sucked into a different realm. Archivist recognized the portal’s frames and Tabitha froze a bit by a familiar presence. She said,
“Is that Lady Constantine’s magic?”
“Sort of, Tabitha. It could be safe”
Rusic uses his runes to stop the boy being pulled “Lady Constantine? Who designs something like that to force someone like this?”
Archivist turns around as the place is becoming curse into the ritual.
“There is no time, the goblin spirit is coming”
They rushed in as they should not interfere the spirits. Fighting an enemy soon to be, the spirits are dangerous entities. Rusic knows well no one could escape inside a goblin’s spiritual grounds. His experience inside the sphere at the school made him realize the endless possibilities of such danger. They got away, leaving the duck continues the curse inside the ruined realm. The duck sighs in relief
“Duck”
Then it turns around and see the other spirits as well are gone. Finally, the rituals are now able to infest this ruin, it opens a secret compartment at the back of the stage. Showing an album filled with people who attended this place.
The year represents clearly to be the time even before the Eras being written,
“Duck?”
Questioning and remembering what these spirits are and also cannot be obtain so lightly, and its thoughts to be sealed demons, but souls that it could not reach. Other spirits come inside as the spirits had sense emptiness to this room
“Gobin shaman, where are the lost souls”
“Duck, duck . . . duck”
“The chosen boy? You mean the boy who carries the old cross”
“Duck?”
The spirits sigh as the faithful keeps playing dumb, forgetting that they too should not interfere unless the living reached them.